Elon Musk becomes the first person in history to lose $200 billion

Elon Musk, the billionaire and CEO of Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX, has become the first person in history to lose $200 billion of his fortune, according to the New York Post. Never before has a person lost so much money.

According to the New York Post, the drop in his fortune was attributed to a 66 percent drop in Tesla’s stock over the past year.

The precipitous drop in Tesla’s stock price has been linked to Elon Musk’s turning away from the company due to the Twitter saga, as well as supply chain constraints in China exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Elon Musk’s declining wealth

According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list, Elon Musk’s current wealth is $136.9 billion, placing him in second place. He owns about 25 percent of Tesla through stock and options, but has pledged more than half of his shares as collateral for loans.

After Musk declared a 9.1% stake and threatened a hostile takeover, Twitter’s board decided to sell the company to Musk for $44 billion in April 2022.

Later, Elon Musk tried to back out, but Twitter sued him. The acquisition was finalized in October 2022. Elon Musk currently owns about 74% of the company.

On November 4, 2021, Elon’s fortune peaked at $340 billion, and he remained the richest person in the world until this month, when he was surpassed by Bernard Arnault, the entrepreneur behind luxury goods giant LVMH.

Elon Musk has no substantial assets left after a 65 percent drop in Tesla shares in 2022 and the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Following the revelations, Tesla announced a price cut for several of its models, including a $7,500 reduction on the Model 3 and Model Y.

Elon Musk, meanwhile, dismissed Tesla’s concerns and regularly took to Twitter to blame the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates.